Law enforcement throughout Ohio sends condolences to Preble County, Deputy Hamilton's family

PREBLE COUNTY, Ohio (WKEF) -- Law enforcement agencies across Ohio sent their condolences through social media posts to the Preble County Sheriff's Office, family and friends of Deputy Joshua Hamilton who died on Monday, Dec. 18 in a fatal crash. Sheriff Deborah Burchett from Clark County who has lost two deputies in the line of duty since 2011 knows how difficult this is going to be for the family, sheriff's office and community.

"It's very devastating to their sheriff's office, and it's very devastating to their community too. Everyone is affected by it when you lose an officer," said Burchett.

Clark County lost Deputy Suzanne Hopper who was shot while on duty on January 1, 2011, and Deputy Matthew Yates who was also shot while responding to a call on July 24, 2022.

Burchett said one of the things that helped the most was being a part of the Buckeye State Sheriff's Association. Sheriff Stephen Levorchick, who is on the funeral and mourning policy committee helped tremendously, according to Burchett. Levorchick is with the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office.

"To this day, I can't thank him enough for what he did for us, because we were all, you know, we were all devastated. We were all saddened and we just didn't know which way we were going at that time," said Burchett.

It will take a whole community to help those close to Hamilton deal with the grief they are facing. Burchett said both deputies, Hopper and Yates had children, just like Hamilton.

Even though time has passed, Clark County sheriffs make sure to check on both of those families and let them know they haven't been forgotten.

"What we do now is with the 15-year-old, we go over when she has her birthday. We'll go over as a group and just try and lift her spirits and different things like that. Anything they need we're right there for them," said Burchett.

She added her department will be there in any way possible for Preble County, and they will continue to be there for any law enforcement in the state that goes through the tragedy of losing one of their own.